1. Field of the Invention
A process for improving the quality of video display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems are information handling electronic systems that can be designed to give independent computing power to one user or a plurality of users. Computer systems may be found in many forms including mainframes, minicomputers, workstations, servers, personal computers, internet terminals, notebooks, and embedded systems. A typical computer system includes at least one system processor, associated memory and control logic, and peripheral devices that provide input and output for the system. Peripheral devices may also include displays, keyboards, mouse-type input devices, floppy and hard disk drives, printers, network access circuits, terminal devices, modems, televisions, sound devices, voice recognition devices, electronic pen devices, and mass storage devices such as tape drives, CD-R drives, or DVDs.
As a peripheral, a DVD may store digital video images. The digital images may be read from the DVD and displayed to the computer monitor. Similarly, a DVD may also be utilized as storage device for images to be displayed on a television. But conventional televisions are analog devices unlike newer televisions and computer monitors which display digital images. Images which were originally recorded to be displayed on a standard analog television are processed according to an industry standard.
The National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) standard divides one second of video time into thirty equal segments called frames. Each frame is divided into 2 segments called fields. When displayed on a conventional analog television, the scan lines of the even numbered fields fall between the scan lines of the odd-numbered fields. However, because of the phosphor persistence of a television monitor, two fields are never displayed at the same time. The viewer is always looking at either an even field or an odd field, never at both. However, on a digital display (a computer monitor or digital television) lines typically are displayed as a frame. Therefore, any material intended for display on an analog television must be processed before being displayed on a computer monitor or digital television which usually provide a superior image.
Conventional analog television broadcasts are available in most areas, but random electronic signals interfere with reception. The Federal Communication Commission has ruled that analog signals may not be broadcast after 2006. Thus, within 5 years, analog broadcast signals will be replaced by digital broad casts. Currently, digital signals are standard for commercial satellite and cable television transmissions.
Digital display of video images interlaced for display on a conventional television results in a poor image. The developing technology of digital television and the use of digital monitors for computer systems creates a need for an improved system of de-interlacing video signals which have been recorded for display on a conventional (analog) television.
The present invention relates to a process for de-interlacing video data. Depending on the amount of motion contained in the video data, either the bob or the weave method of de-interlacing is used. If video data is in the progressive format, then no de-interlacing is used. After initially determining which method of de-interlacing to use, the invention continues to monitor the amount of motion in the data and changes the de-interlacing method if the amount of motion in the video data changes.
The foregoing is a summary and this contains, by necessity, simplifications, generalizations and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting.